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. 2019 Jan;37(1):65-72.
doi: 10.2337/cd18-0026.

Patients With Lean Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Are Metabolically Abnormal and Have a Higher Risk for Mortality

Pegah Golabi  1 , James Paik  1 , Natsu Fukui  2 , Cameron T Locklear  2 , Leyla de Avilla  1 , Zobair M Younossi  1   2
Affiliations

Patients With Lean Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Are Metabolically Abnormal and Have a Higher Risk for Mortality

Pegah Golabi et al. Clin Diabetes. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

IN BRIEF Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly recognized and common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Although most patients with NAFLD are obese, a smaller group of NAFLD patients are lean. This study explored the long-term outcomes of lean patients with NAFLD in the United States. Compared to lean individuals without NAFLD, lean people with NAFLD were significantly more likely to be older and male and had higher comorbidities (i.e., diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease). The presence of NAFLD in lean individuals was independently associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

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Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Study flow of the analytical cohort selection from NHANES III. ALD, alcoholic liver disease; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Adjusted survival curves on Cox proportion hazards model for all-cause mortality among lean individuals, NHANES III (1988–1994). aHR, adjusted HR.
FIGURE 3.
FIGURE 3.
Adjusted survival curves on Cox proportion hazards model for cardiovascular mortality among lean individuals, NHANES III (1988–1994). aHR, adjusted HR.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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